Father of Lebanese who infiltrated Israel claims son is mentally ill
The father of Ali Mari, who was arrested on Thursday near the central bus station in Kiryat Shmona, said in an interview with a Lebanese television station, 'My son's mind is not right. … Can you imagine a normal person doing such a thing?'
The father of Lebanese citizen Ali Mari, who crossed the border into Israel on Thursday night and managed to reach Kiryat Shmona unhindered, told a television channel reporter in Lebanon that his son was mentally unbalanced and that his son had previously claimed he was Jewish.
Yesterday, Lebanon reported that Israel had returned Mari to the Lebanese army through the Rosh Hanikra crossing and via the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). His father added that after his son was interrogated, his son sent him a text message. An Arab-speaking Israeli also told him on the phone, "Your son is okay and safe."
The father later claimed that the Israeli told him that his son was ill and asked him if he was taking any medications, to which he replied that he was not.
When asked whether his son had told him he wanted to go to Israel, the father said that he had. "My son's mind is not right; he says he was originally Jewish." The father then asked the reporter, "Can you imagine a normal person doing such a thing?"
In addition to the father's interview, a colleague of Mari's who works at a restaurant in southern Lebanon where he had also worked, added: "We were surprised to hear about him in the news."
On Thursday, civilians spotted a suspect in the area of the central bus station in Kiryat Shmona. They called the police and when the police asked him, it turned out that he was a man who infiltrated Israel from Lebanese territory and even managed to reach Kiryat Shmona, which is 10 kilometers from the border. The IDF confirmed that a civilian with Lebanese identitification had been found in Kiryat Shmona, and that he had entered the country in the area of Moshav Margaliot near the fence unarmed.
